Hopping on boards

It's official: Ralph Szygenda has arrived. Last June, the Handleman appointed the General Motors CIO to its board of directors. Szygenda joins CIO luminaries like Ruth Bruch, Harriet Edelman and Randy Mott, all of whom have been tapped for board positions because of their IT experience.

Szygenda was nominated for his "extensive understanding, experience and leadership of business processes and information systems," says Stephen Strome, chairman and CEO of the music and video distributor, in a release announcing Szygenda's appointment.

Not to be overlooked in this hubbub of high-profile names and companies is Marty Chuck, vice president and CIO of HP spin-off Agilent Technologies ServGate Technologies recently elected Chuck to serve on its board. The security gateway provider must have been impressed by his transformation of Agilent's IT department, which reduced operational costs by 23 % in 18 months and freed up resources for new systems investments.

Austin Adds Duties

When we last met Karen Austin, she had just won the CIO's job at troubled retailer Kmart Now she's added advertising and marketing to her list of responsibilities as senior vice president and CIO of Kmart. Austin takes those duties from Barbara Firment, who left her position as senior vice president of advertising, sales and in-store presentation for the beleaguered retailer last June. Austin joined Kmart in 1984.

In other retail news, casual clothes seller Aeropostale hired its first CIO. Ann Joyce was CIO of Leslie Fay before joining Aeropostale and from 1996 to 2002 worked for Polo Ralph Lauren. At Polo, she introduced a methodology for tracking and monitoring the return on technology investments.

You Say Good-Bye, I Say Hello

Ed Glotzbach bade farewell to his colleagues at SBC after 33 years with the company. Glotzbach, who started as a traffic supervisor and was most recently executive vice president and CIO of SBC Operations, retired last June. John Stankey, president and CEO of SBC Southwest, took over the CIO post.

On the other side of the Mississippi, telecom carrier US LEC appointed Tom Fabbricatore as senior vice president and CIO. Fabbricatore joined the company after a 20-year tenure with CTC Communications.

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